Mshelia: Adequate Manpower Will Boost AOC Issuance

The Chief Executive of Westlink Airlines, Ibrahim Mshelia, has said additional manpower in the regulatory authority will cut down the time spent to acquire Air Operators Certificate (AOC) in the country.

Mshelia also explained that it took his company years to obtain the AOC because of delays associated with the processes especially with regards to documentation and manpower.

"Sometimes we make errors in our documentation and it takes time to communicate it to the NCAA and time to communicate back, so with that, time is spent. What I gathered in the system is not new to any of us, manpower. When the system has enough manpower perhaps it may cut down on the time spent to acquire the AOC.
"The operator too is also a problem if a document is giving to be returned in a day and it takes a week the operator is also delaying himself”, he said.

Mshelia also narrated what the airline painstakingly went through in an effort to do things exceptionally from other airlines and give its clientele and passengers the best of services.
"I wouldn't say it will be different, we would definitely do things differently because our purpose is to replicate what we see when we travel out.

"Our local carriers over the years have tried our best, we are not saying they are not doing well, we are saying there is room for improvement and we are that airline that will bring improvement and we are putting things in place to make sure that when we start operating you can look at your watch and know that Westlink has flown", Mshelia added.
On manpower training, he revealed that his aviation training school, Mish Aviation in Ghana will be graduating students in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has urged the management of Westlink Airlines to have safety as its watchword.

Presenting the AOC to the Chairman of Westlink Airlines, the director of Airworthiness Standards , Benedict Adeyelika congratulated the management of the airline for having waited for the certification since 2010.

Adeyelika urged the airline team to ensure that the standard of safety do not fall below expectation and to maintain good safety records at all times.

According to him, the entrance of Westlink Airlines into the Nigerian aviation market has opened way for other potential operators that could apply for their AOCs.

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